Word: patina
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...bogus, how beguiling, that in the midst of the Depression, Hollywood erected Art Deco penthouses for swells with nothing better to do than dance the night away. Did audiences rebel at this fantasy vision? No, they wanted escape--escape into elegance. Nearly everyone opted for that patina. Gangsters and jazzmen went to their gigs in cool dark suits; gas-station attendants wore bow ties. To look natty was to buy into the Hollywood myth. Mr. DeMille might never come to Podunk, but Middle America was always ready for its close...
...have five days to go. We have, in the old cliche, a long way to go and a short time to get there." For Pat Buchanan, the Bayou victory was especially sweet, since it comes on the heels of his win in the Alaska straw poll, lending a new patina of credibility to his candidacy. "This win will help Buchanan expand his already solid base among religious conservatives in Iowa and New Hampshire," notes Birnbaum...
...with Clinton in Hyde Park two days before, U.S. intelligence agents thought they had spotted a problem. Something, it seemed, was amiss with the Russian President. His gait looked awkward; he was walking with difficulty and with his legs spread apart. His skin had taken on a disturbing gray patina. And his face appeared strangely bloated--"puffy," in the words of one American official present. In the minds of the CIA analysts, it all pointed to one thing: Yeltsin was poised on the threshold of another bout of heart trouble that could swiftly land him in the hospital, or worse...
...this film's Van Helsing (lank, loopy Peter Fonda) sleeps inside a grand piano, Nadja is a fairly close reading of the Stoker tale. What distinguishes it is its serenely mannerist glamour. Almereyda shot parts in glorious "Pixelvision"--with a toy camera that gives the most garish images the patina of a dreamscape. Nadja is beyond a midnight movie; it's a late late show for the artistic couch potato...
...high-tech hybrid teas with names like Chrysler Imperial-"a rose named after a car, for God's sake." What's different today, he observes, is that gardening has become such a fad. "You can pour vast sums of money into an acre of land and acquire the patina of sophisticated gardening very quickly." Horticultural social climbers speedily master the passwords. "There is a whole hierarchy of color," he says. "White flowers are considered the most prestigious because you have to be more sophisticated to appreciate white. Blue in a garden is almost as good as white...